Ch27 - Xie Zhuxing, Son of a Bitch

Editor: Ghost

The members upstairs were quiet. They were probably all dreaming by now.

Wang Chao was lightly snoring as he slept next to him. He would occasionally grind his teeth.

Only Xie Zhuxing was still awake; he had no intention of going to sleep.

He didn’t quite understand his actions.

What did that kiss mean? He wasn’t gay.

There had been many gay guys in his dance school. Back then, Yan Jiajia would even help him take care of younger gay students who would confess to him.

He was very sure of his sexual orientation. He liked girls, and he’s never had any form of interest in guys.

Could it be that he liked Wang Chao?

He turned around and took a look at Wang Chao.

Wang Chao liked to sleep on his stomach with both hands on his face. The way he slept was parallel to that of a pig. He would also often drool all over the pillow.

Although he looked good, all he knew how to do was depend on his family’s wealth. His ego was raised through the roof. All he knew how to say was, “Xiao Xie, you don’t have any money, so this can be counted as helping the less fortunate.” That little shit was also lazy, never having any motivation to do anything. He couldn’t handle any pain and if you told him to do anything, he would just complain endlessly. Even a lazy donkey who took two whips would be stronger than him.

He was the type of stallion that could get a quick fuck even at a barbeque.

The more Xie Zhuxing thought about it, the more bizarre he felt this was. At least Yan Jiajia was a smart and hardworking girl with motivation. But Wang Chao? Even if Xie Zhuxing’s brain was kicked by a donkey and really turned gay, he still wouldn’t develop feelings for someone like Wang Chao.

But he wasn’t gay. He still thought that girls were very cute. He also liked kids a lot. He was full of excitement for future kids.

In the end, he blamed the brainless kiss on his accumulating stress. Plus, he had a bit to drink tonight so he must’ve been dizzy enough to do something as boring as this.

After a few days, he didn’t have the time to worry about this problem anymore. IceDream’s daily schedule was packed to the brim; they were abnormally busy.

Other than having to record the other tracks for their album, they also had to attend rehearsals for the award ceremony component of the Music Festival. On top of that, they also had several interviews with the media.

When training, everyone felt tired, but they knew that compared to the real intensity of work after their debut, these few hours of training were practically nothing.

The Music Festival was going to be hosted on Friday. Thursday was Duan Yikun’s birthday. He told them that they were going to go celebrate after they finished their recording for that night. He even reminded them to change into suitable clothes.

A few members discussed getting together to buy him a present. But after a long talk, they still couldn’t decide. They couldn’t afford expensive gifts, but they were too embarrassed to present a cheap one.

Wang Chao didn’t express his opinion. He hadn’t been getting enough sleep recently, so he was leaning on Xie Zhuxing’s shoulder napping. After a while, he felt annoyed with their chattering and wanted to say something. “Don’t…”

“Aren’t you tired?” Xie Zhuxing said as he prevented him from saying things like “stingy” or “poor”. “You sleep. When we decide on what we want to buy, we’ll let you know and you’ll take the lead.”

That was the gist of what Wang Chao had wanted to say anyway. He answered absentmindedly  then continued napping.

The members also had a plan like that formulated in their mind already –  just no one had the face to bring it up. Now that that issue was resolved, everyone was happy and satisfied.

Duan Yikun’s birthday party exceeded their expectations.

Duan Yikun was a manager who had been in the industry for more than ten years. He has brought several idols to fame, along with his own dancing skills and wide range of connections within the industry, and adding on the newly formed IceDream who was adored by the public. As long as one received an invitation to this event, they had to do something. Even if they couldn’t physically show up, they still prepared a gift for him.

The members were newcomers and everyone present was a senior in the field. It was best to be cautious in a situation like this.

Everyone else was fine, but Xie Zhuxing was afraid that Wang Chao would cause trouble, so he kept him by his side, not letting him run off.

Wang Chao didn’t have any interest in Duan Yikun’s guests anyway, but just like a child, the more Xie Zhuxing wanted to hold him back, the more he wanted to go off and play.

But humans had to answer to the call of nature and Xie Zhuxing needed to go to the bathroom. He told him, “Sit here and don’t move, and don’t cause trouble with other people. If you offend someone, then the outcome isn’t going to be good.”

Wang Chao agreed obediently, “Alright.”

But the moment Xie Zhuxing walked away, he went off to have fun.

When Xie Zhuxing came back and saw that he was gone, Ji Jie pointed in a direction and when he looked over, he saw Wang Chao holding a glass of champagne while chatting with some girls wearing short skirts. Who knows what bullshit he was sprouting – the girls were all laughing.

Xie Zhuxing walked over and apologized to the girls, then dragged him back.

Wang Chao hadn’t played with girls for a few days. He was dissatisfied as he said, “What are you doing? Not like I said anything inappropriate.”

“Today is Kun-ge’s birthday. Stop it.”

Wang Chao looked back at the girls and saw that they were all laughing. He thought they were laughing about him and felt a bit annoyed. “What am I even doing? I only said a few words. Why are you acting like my older brother? Why do you care so much?”

Xie Zhuxing looked at his indifferent face. The fire  he’s been trying to supress in his heart flared up again. He said coldly, “You think I want to care? Then go off and play all you want – see if I care.”

Wang Chao was stunned. “…Why are you angry?”

Xie Zhuxing didn’t want to pay attention to him. He went inside and sat down next to Cheng Yao on a two seat sofa.

Cheng Yao didn’t dare  stand up and walk away. He looked up at his leader and then took another look at Xiao Xie-ge. He was scared  he was going to become the third wheel.

Wang Chao felt like he didn’t do anything wrong today. His plan of picking up girls was even interrupted. He suppressed his anger as he said, “Xiao Xie, what is the meaning of this?”

Xie Zhuxing was annoyed to the extreme. He didn’t want to say anything. He took a cup of alcohol from the table and drank it all in one gulp.

Wang Chao had never seen him like this. His anger dissipated. He was actually a bit worried. “Are you not happy with something and using me as a vent?”

Xie Zhuxing, “….” That’s right, he wasn’t happy, but there’s nowhere to vent.

“Cheng Yao, you get up,” Wang Chao said.

Cheng Yao hurriedly got up and hid somewhere far away.

The rest of the members pretended to be chatting with one another, some of them going on their phones.

Wang Chao sat next to Xie Zhuxing and used his knee to bump his leg. “Hey.”

Xie Zhuxing, “….” Hey what?

Wang Chao completely forgot about hitting on girls. His attention was now focused on hoaxing Xie Zhuxing. He asked, “What’s wrong with you? Who pissed you off?”

Xie Zhuxing, “…” Who else?

Wang Chao bumped his leg and smiled mischievously. “Let me tell you a story. It’s really funny – whoever hears it is definitely going to laugh!”

Xie Zhuxing didn’t pay him any attention.

He started talking to himself, “It’s said that there was once a huge snow storm during the end of the year. There was a person who was drunk in the middle of the night and wanted to take a piss on his way home. He saw there was a snowman on the side of the road. However, his eyesight was blurred and he thought, ‘This girl is pretty good-looking.’ Without thought, he fucked the snowman. As he did so, he even thought, ‘Woah what the fuck. So good, so wet.’”

After he finished, he started laughing by himself. He even started slapping Xie Zhuxing’s thigh as he asked, “Isn’t it funny? Hahahah!”

Xie Zhuxing, “…” Funny my ass.

Wang Chao saw he wasn’t laughing and felt a bit disheartened. “I’ve been referring to this story my whole life. Whoever hears it is bound to laugh. But you, you’re like a piece of wood, not one bit of interest.”

Xie Zhuxing, “…” Oh? You know what interest is?

Wang Chao thought for a second, then asked again, “Is there something up in your family?”

Xie Zhuxing’s anger slowly died down. “Nothing,” he answered.

“Then what’s wrong with you?”

Xie Zhuxing felt that since he was getting angry with an idiot, he was also an idiot. How meaningless. He replied vaguely, “Nothing much. Just feeling annoyed since I’ve been really stressed lately.”

Wang Chao thought he was telling the truth. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder and started comforting him, “If you’re feeling under the weather then you have to tell me. I thought something was wrong. I told you already: your habit of bottling up your feelings isn’t good.”

Xie Zhuxing, “…Hm.”

Wang Chao saw  his complexion had improved a lot, his own mood improving as well. “Only you can do this. If anyone else gives me an attitude, I would’ve beaten them up so bad that even their mother couldn’t recognize them.”

“Based on your fighting skills, who can you beat?”

“Of course I can’t beat someone with experience like you. Oh right, I’ve never asked you, where did you learn?”

“We had martial arts classes,” Xie Zhuxing said.

Wang Chao stuck onto him as he said, “Teach me some tricks when we have time later on. My brother used to teach me, but he was annoyed with how slow I was learning so he got annoyed and stopped. He even beat me up.”

Xie Zhuxing couldn’t hold it in as he laughed. This was way funnier than some snowman story.

Wang Chao laughed along with him. “Has your mood improved yet? Let me tell you another story.”

He started to ramble endlessly again.

Xie Zhuxing turned around and looked at him. Xie Zhuxing felt that within this particular moment, he looked especially pleasing to the eye. He looked handsome, docile, and understanding.

Seeing the two weren’t quarreling anymore, the members let out a sigh of relief.

After a while, Duan Yikun called them over and introduced them to a famous music producer.

Just as they were done exchanging the usual polite remarks, a late guest walked in and apologized from afar, “Sorry, sorry. I had to take care of some urgent matters so I came late.”

Duan Yikun welcomed the person over and introduced IceDream to him. “This is my senior. You guys should call him Sen-ge.”

The six replied, “Hello, Sen-ge.”

The person replied back with a modest smile, “Nonsense. I only joined the industry a few days earlier than him. Not a senior. My name is Zhou Niansen, I’m Bai Tu’s manager.”

During this evening, they had already met numerous big shots. Now that they know he’s Bai Tu’s manager, they didn’t have an extreme reaction, they just smiled politely. Only Wang Chao stood there expressionlessly. He was too lazy to smile, too lazy to even pretend to be polite.

Zhou Niansen obviously noticed as he looked him up and down, his expression slightly changing.

Duan Yikun waved his hand. “You guys go off and play first. I still have some things to say to Sen-ge.”

After they all turned around and walked away, Zhou Niansen’s eyes still followed Wang Chao.

Duan Yikun knew him well. He smiled as he said, “Sen-ge, don’t get any ideas. He has a powerful backing.”

Zhou Niansen didn’t seem to mind. “What backing?”

Wang Qi wasn’t someone within the industry, so it wasn’t convenient for Duan Yikun to mention him. Instead, he said, “He’s Liang Xi’s younger bro.”

Zhou Niansen looked back and took another glance. “Oh, Liang Xi.”

After the birthday party was over, IceDream sent off the rest of the guests along with Duan Yikun as they were basically playing the role of hosts. They went home very late.

The next day, Xie Zhuxing woke up early as usual. He went out for a run. After running about half the distance, Wang Chao called him as Xie Zhuxing was returning. From his voice, it seemed he was still sleeping. “I want to eat stir-fried liver. Help me buy some on your way back.”

“I have other stuff to do. Buy it yourself when you wake up,” Xie Zhuxing said.

“You run a few kilometers everyday anyways.ust jog here while you’re at it. Help me buy some fried dough sticks while you’re at it. I’m about to starve to death.”

“I don’t care. Keep starving,” Xie Zhuxing said as he hung up.

He was almost done running. When he finished, he didn’t go home. He took the train to Wangjing, then bought two servings of stir-fried liver and fried dough sticks.

He had the key to Wang Chao’s place. He had lived there before and when he left, Wang Chao told him to keep the key so that in case he ever forgot his, he could just go to Xie Zhuxing’s place for another key. And so he kept it.

When he opened the door and walked in, it was extremely quiet in the house. The living room was filled with light, looking extremely beautiful.

He poured the stir-fried liver into a porcelain bowl and put the fried dough sticks onto a plate before going to call Wang Chao up.

Wang Chao was sprawled on the bed, snoring and sleeping. He wasn’t wearing any pants as the blankets only covered half of his legs. The sun was really shining on his butt. His phone was on his face, he probably fell right back asleep after making that phone call.

Xie Zhuxing called out to him, “Do you want stir-fried liver and fried dough sticks?”

Wang Chao woke up puzzledly, his eyes barely open as he looked at Xie Zhuxing with much effort. He grinned. “Hehe, I knew  you would come.”

“Get up,” Xie Zhuxing said.

Wang Chao got up and turned over, sitting there like an elementary school kid as he said, “Hm..where’s my underwear? Get me a pair from the closet.”

Xie Zhuxing got a pair for him from the closet. After he put it on, he called Xie Zhuxing to get him some clothes.

Xie Zhuxing gave his clothes to him as he criticized, “You’re really becoming more and more useless. You can’t even wear your clothes properly if you don’t have someone to help you.”

After much effort, Wang Chao finally put on his pants and t-shirt. He stood up to find his slippers.

Xie Zhuxing saw there was a slipper under the bed. He kicked it out and said, “Here, you…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence as he saw a condom on the slipper. It was used.

Wang Chao also saw it. He was a bit embarrassed as he scratched his head, trying to explain, “I told the girl to clean it before she left. She didn’t do it.”

Xie Zhuxing, “…Go eat.”

Wang Chao didn’t wear his slippers as he pushed Xie Zhuxing out. He followed behind him barefoot. “I’ve been hungry since last night and I really wanted to eat stir-fried liver. I even especially set an alarm to call you.”

“Send me the money later, plus delivery fee,” Xie Zhuxing said.

Wang Chao laughed. “I’ll send you some extra.”

He ran off to wash his hands as Xie Zhuxing sat at the table. He raised his gaze and looked at the staircase leading to the second floor. He suddenly thought of the kiss from that night, suddenly wanting to laugh.

That night, the awards ceremony of the Music Festival.

As the opening act for the night, IceDream was going to make their debut on the stage.

Everyone was very nervous while putting on makeup and waiting backstage. Wang Chao, who was usually the most indifferent, kept shaking his legs nervously.

Xie Zhuxing was also extremely stressed. Although he was more experienced than his teammates and has had many large-scale stage performances before, this was still his first time as an actual idol in the spotlight.

Wang Chao kept shaking his legs as he stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom.”:

Xie Zhuxing asked, “Are you alright? You went four or five times already.”

“I’m fine. Walking around will make me less nervous. Do you want to go too?”

Xie Zhuxing already went with him the last two times already. “Go by yourself. Don’t run around and cause trouble,” he said.

“You’re more annoying than my mom.”

When he came out, he was a bit lost. He walked around the large backstage area for a long time but he still couldn’t find their dressing room. After a turn, he saw two acquaintances.

Liang Xi and Bai Tu were the hosts for tonight’s awards ceremony.

The two were standing close to each other. Judging from Bai Tu’s annoyed expression, Liang Xi was probably being a hooligan again.

Wang Chao was a bit nervous so he wanted to find something to do. He called out, “Ge, what are you doing?”

Liang Xi was probably planning on being a hooligan to the extreme. Seeing that Wang Chao had walked over, he was very annoyed as he said, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you debuting? You’re getting an award too?”

“We’re here to perform. Are you two handing out the awards?” Wang Chao asked.

He sneaked a few glances at Bai Tu. The film emperor really was handsome. He didn’t look bad even when he was angry.

Liang Xi wasn’t pleased as he said, “What are you looking at? You think you’re qualified to look at him?”

Wang Chao thought, Who wants to look at him anyways, who cares? Besides, it looks like the film emperor doesn’t want you looking at him either.

He leaned against the wall, wanting to walk over. He said tauntingly, “Not looking, not looking. You two have fun giving out the award—ah!”

Liang Xi lifted his leg up and kicked him. He immediately ran away.

After finally finding their makeup room again, he pushed the door open and walked in.

Ji Jie was sitting in his seat, leaning on Xie Zhuxing as the two shared a pair of earphones, listening to a song.

Wang Chao was a bit unhappy as he walked over and pushed Ji Jie. “Get up. Who said you can sit here?”

Ji Jie took off the earphones as he said, “What? No one can sit here after you did?”

Wang Chao was going to start rambling, but Xie Zhuxing got up and said, “Don’t cause trouble for no reason.”

Wang Chao swallowed his words as he dragged Xie Zhuxing to sit in another seat.

Ji Jie looked at Xie Zhuxing pitifully before putting his earphones back in and continuing his song.

Xie Zhuxing said in a quiet voice, “What kind of leader are you? We’re about to debut, yet instead of comforting everyone, you’re causing trouble.”

Wang Chao didn’t know what he was thinking before either. He was just unhappy. “I’m nervous, alright? Touch my hand.”

Xie Zhuxing didn’t want to touch his hand. Wang Chao reached out himself and grabbed Xie Zhuxing. “Look, it’s covered with cold sweat.”

Xie Zhuxing felt the moist coldness of his palm. He couldn’t resist as he held the back of his hand.

Wang Chao was a bit happy and wanted to interlock all ten of their fingers together.

Xie Zhuxing didn’t shake it off.

As the cold palm pressed against the warm one, they gradually tuned each other to the same temperature.

It seemed like the nervousness they felt was fading bit by bit.

Wang Chao stared at Xie Zhuxing’s side profile. There was a feeling inside he couldn’t explain. All  he could sum up in words was: Xiao Xie was the best person in the world – no one else could be better.

The two continued the vague, intimate action until the director came to notify them  it was their turn. Then they released each other’s hand.

Before getting on the stage, Wang Chao bumped into Ji Jie. With his eyes up at the ceiling, he said, “Lil Bun, I was too nervous earlier. It wasn’t anything against you.”

Ji Jie had a surprised face before he quickly laughed in his reply, “Big butt, good luck.”

Xie Zhuxing reached out his hand, saying, “Good luck to the whole team.”

The rest of the members all stacked their hands on his one by one. In a low voice, they cheered for both themselves and their teammates, “Go, go, go, IceDream!”

The prelude of “Summer Ice” began, lights shone, and thunder-like claps rang below the stage.

IceDream made their official debut on stage.

Little over four minutes later.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Wang Chao’s mouth would not stop as he walked down the stage. “I forgot the lyrics earlier, good thing the mic wasn’t fully on.”

Xie Zhuxing was just about to scold him when he heard Cheng Yao behind him. “My legs are kind of weak. I can’t walk.”

Xie Zhuxing reached out to support Cheng Yao as he complimented him, “Yaoyao, you performed very well today.”

Cheng Yao beamed in gratitude, responding with sweet words, “You guys all performed great as well! We were awesome!”

They were off the stage entirely after some chatting. Wang Chao turned back to see Xie Zhuxing and Cheng Yao holding hands. He was instantly salty about it. “Cheng Yao, do I need to buy you a booster seat?”

That made Cheng Yao a little awkward. He stopped having Xie Zhuxing help him.

Xie Zhuxing lightly hit Wang Chao, saying, “Speak properly.”

Wang Chao acted shamelessly. “Am I wrong for trying to care for my teammate?”

Xie Zhuxing didn’t try arguing back. That was just how he was after all. Whatever he says, it’s right. If he says someone else was wrong, then they have to be wrong.

Duan Yikun also came to the back stage to congratulate them on their debut performance, then stated that he’ll treat everyone to a late night meal as a little celebration.

Since their first time went so well, everyone was ecstatic. Wang Chao’s nervousness ceased as well. Instead, he started boasting about how he was able to sing all the while he forgot his lyrics, and so on about how awesome he was. The others simply listened to him bluff; no one spoke up against it.

As he kept bluffing, a call came in. Once he picked up, the look on his face dropped. He told them, “I can’t go eat with you guys anymore. I’ll treat you guys some other day.”

Duan Yikuan asked, “What’s going on? Did something come up?”

Wang Chao explained, “My brother told me to go home.”

Duan Yikuan smiled at that. “Tell him I said hello then. Also a thank you from me for yesterday’s birthday gift that was sent to me.”

As they split up, although Wang Chao also wanted to go with them, he didn’t dare to defy Wang Qi. He pulled on Xie Zhuxing and said, “Don’t drink too much. Go home after you’re done eating. Don’t hang out with them until too too late. Go sleep at your own home. Don’t sleep with them.”

Xie Zhuxing, “…” What kind of reminder is that?

Wang Chao drove off in his car.

Xie Zhuxing and the other teammates got into the van together.

Gao Siyuan asked like he’d found a whole new world, “Ge, leader’s big brother is quite a big shot too, ain’t he?”

Xie Zhuxing replied, “I don’t know. He never mentioned that.”

Not even Ji Jie believed that, joining the conversation. “Do you guys not chat at all even though he sticks to you the whole day?”

Xie Zhuxing replied, “He doesn’t talk about his family much. Even if we chatted, it’s all useless talk. Haven’t you guys all heard how much rubbish he says?”

Ji Jie chuckled. “Right, he’s great at that. Xiao Xie-ge, you’ve got such a good temper. If it was me, I would’ve slapped him eight hundred times already.

“He’s not a bad person, just the way he talks is irritating. Pardon it more.”

Gao Siyuan had a baffled face, saying with a smile, “Ge, now that’s a little biased.”

Xie Zhuxing just realized how overly intimate he sounded after he finished, he said, “It’s not like that, it’s basically like tonight. Wasn’t it also all thanks to that annoyance that we’re able to come to this Music Festival? If he’s happy, it’ll make it easier for us too.”

His statement made a lot of sense. The rest of the teammates exchanged eye contact before all raising a fist, yelling in unison, “Xiao Xie-ge, you’ve worked hard!”

Wang Chao arrived back home dispirited. He whined right after he got in, “What did you call me back for? All my teammates went to eat. I’m the only one who can’t.”

Wang Qi stood there with his hands behind his back, not saying a thing. Wang Jin sat on the sofa with a Kindle in hand, he threw a pitiful look at Wang Chao.

Wang Chao was way too familiar with both of these expressions. He could already feel some slight pain from his ass. Instantly, he started going through his memory for anything inappropriate he’s done recently. But he just couldn’t, he asked with a mourning face, “Big bro, what is it now? I’ve been working hard lately, I properly practiced my singing and dancing every day. Tonight’s music festival performance went well, too. You shouldn’t find an excuse to hit me just because your hands are itching.”

“My hands are itching? I think it’s your skin that’s itching,” Wang Qi said. “Last night, where did you go after Xiao Duan’s birthday was over?”

“…I went home.”

“By yourself?”

“…”

Wang Qi was enraged. “There were paparazzis at Xiao Duan’s birthday party yesterday and caught you bringing a young model home. If that picture was released on the news today, do you think you could even have the face to attend the Music Festival?”

Hearing that, Wang Chao knew his brother had already taken care of it for him. He turned compliant. “Thank you, big bro.”

Wang Qi felt the rage coming up as he looked at him. “What did I tell you when you moved out? If you mess around out there, just watch how I deal with you. Get over here!”

Wang Chao could tell there was no way out of this. He forced himself to lie down on the sofa next to Wang Jin. He said with some sniffles, “Don’t hit my face.”

Wang Qi whipped him. He laid there, sobbing. Wang Jin thought it was funny and wiped his tears for him pretentiously, saying, “Alright alright, it’ll be over after a hundred more whips.”

Wang Chao cried his heart out. He thought inside, once he’s famous in the future, he’s going to publish the fact that he’ll cut all ties with his wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing brothers.

Wang Qi went extra hard on the beating this time – in case  he might forget it again. So much so  his forehead was also covered in sweat by the end.

Wang Chao got up as he sniffled. The area from his butt down to his thighs was numb. He limped on his way out.

Wang Qi questioned, “…Where are you going?”

Wang Chao played tough. “I’m not sleeping here. I’m going back to my place.”

“Get back here!”

Wang Chao didn’t dare leave. He backtracked with tears still running.

Wang Jin fell over on the sofa from laughing.

Wang Qi told him, “Enough with you. How can you still laugh when he’s crying like this?”

Wang Jin was getting himself situated again, saying, “Don’t throw me under the bus, big bro. Isn’t he crying because you beat him? It’s not like he’s crying from me laughing at him.”

Wang Qi was irked by his words. “Get out. Go upstairs to read.”

Wang Jin chuckled as he went away with his Kindle.

Wang Chao had ceased crying. Since his big bro scolded his second bro for him, he evaluated his big bro to be better than his second bro.

Wang Qi asked, “Does it hurt? If not, I can beat you again.”

“…It hurts.”

“Will you remember this? If not, I can beat you again.”

“…I will.”

“Remember what? Tell me.”

“I won’t bring girls home again.”

Wang Qi wasn’t satisfied.

He had no choice but to give it an upgrade. “I won’t sleep with girls again.”

“…As long as you know, don’t mess around any more in the future.”

Wang Chao wiped his tears, replying, “Mn.”

Since it was too late, Wang Qi didn’t want him to drive himself back out of worry. He told him to sleep upstairs, and he did. As he pushed open the door, he found Wang Jin changing out the bedsheet to a clean one for him.

Wang Chao was touched at that moment, suddenly thinking that his second bro was pretty good too.

That momentarily thankfulness lasted until his shower. The moment the hot water hit him, his thigh and butt was in even more agonizing pain. He looked in the mirror to see a huge patch of red. This was gonna take days to recover again. He cried himself to sleep, thinking of hateful thoughts before he fell asleep. Neither Wang Qi or Wang Jin are good things, always abusing their little bro out of entertainment. It’s karma that Wang Qi can’t have a kid and Wang Jin can’t ever get laid with his first love.

Since they won’t let their little brother go free, then none of them should have an easy life, let’s all go down together.

Wang Qi’s beating was extremely harsh this time; the effect worked extremely well, too. From then on, Wang Chao hasn’t bought any girls home, and definitely hasn’t slept with any girls.

However, IceDream’s schedule has been getting filled up more and more. Their schedule for over a month was all packed. They could only get 4-5 hours of sleep each day. Even if he was asked to get laid, he wouldn’t have the energy to.

The six had all made their official Weibo accounts now. Their followers increased fast. Among them, Xie Zhuxing was the most popular. He had over a million followers after a week while everyone else was around the same range.

Since they haven’t been on any variety shows yet, they didn’t have the time to show off their own unique specialities yet. Xie Zhuxing’s mature and dependable image became the most popular, plus the repost that Liang Xi made during their promotion that hadn’t died down yet. So when people would mention the IceDream group, people usually wouldn’t remember the other members’ names aside from Tomas the Little Train.

Among the increasing number of fans, it was without a doubt that most of them were girls. Just years ago, when female fans had an idol, they’d imagine marrying them. Time changes fast, and now when female fans have an idol, they usually imagine how their idol would get it on with another idol in a gay relationship.

As the most popular of the group, Xie Zhuxing has already been shipped with every other group member. The ship with the most attention was the one he had with Cheng Yao, called the “Stars” ship. Which was due to a gif of him supporting Cheng Yao after their debut stage that was widely spread throughout the fandom. The most shallow ship was Wang Chao and his. There weren’t many shippers for them; there wasn’t even a proper ship name for them since all the fans were so uninterested.

“What do they mean we don’t look like a couple?” Wang Chao scrolled through Weibo, not content with what he saw. “These fans are so blind. We’re clearly the closest. We sleep together every day and they won’t even ship us. This makes no sense.”

Xie Zhuxing flipped through a magazine, not paying attention to him.

Wang Chao contemplated with his head tilted. “What should our ship name be?”

Xie Zhuxing’s eyes stayed on the magazine as he said, “It can be XieWang.”

Wang Chao was not a fan of it. “That sounds like an insult, like ‘son of a bitch .’”

“…”

Wang Chao continued, “Also, why is your name in front? I know this too, whoever is in front is the husband.”

Xie Zhuxing, “…” Just shut up, of course you know the most.

Wang Chao saw how he didn’t seem interested and came over to look at the magazine in his hand. On it was an advertisement for Air Jordan 23 sneakers.

“You’ve been staring at it for so long. Do you like it? Buy it.” Wang Chao commented.

Xie Zhuxing replied, “I just bought a pair of 17. I should buy it after I’m tired of that pair first.”

“What’s there to hold back against more shoes? Before you were poor but now it’s not like you don’t got nothing. Don’t always be so stingy.”

Xie Zhuxing was not in the mood to hear him blabber at all. He closed the book and asked, “What time is it? Is it not our turn yet?”

Wang Chao looked at his phone. “It’s past ten. We should be going soon.”

They were attending the recording for a public welfare party.

By now, they had fans who’d come all the way out here to see them in-person as well. There were people with LED signs beneath the stage and little groups of people doing fanchants.

Though Duan Yikuan had already told them that the good rankings of “Summer Ice”  on the music website was going to be a short-lived sensation, the rankings soon dropped, but this also comforted them. It wasn’t that their performance wasn’t good enough, but it was due to the fact that it coincidentally hit the same release date as many of their seniors’ films in the music industry. Not to mention the main fans of the idol men’s group were students. Now that schools are open again, it was normal for the rankings to drop. After the 11th National Day Golden Week, they should be able to rush to the top again.

Everyone on the team was still immersed in  serotonin from their debut, and they didn’t have a very clear concept of this. So although Duan Yikuan said it, they simply listened while it didn’t affect their mood that much either.

Once they finished their performance, they left through backstage. There were about twenty fans outside waiting to see them off. They had huge LED signs and some posters. When they saw them, they started screaming and the guards quickly went up to separate them.

Xie Zhuxing was the last one to get in the vehicle. The fans chanted for him, “Little Train! Little Train!” He waved at them.

Wang Chao poked his head out of the car and the fans chanted, “Leo! Leo!”

Wang Chao was hyped. He stuck half  his body out, ready to say something.

Xie Zhuxing could tell  he was about to spout some nonsense and quickly pushed him back in before getting in himself, then closed the door.

“I finally get to see my fans in-person. Why aren’t I allowed to say something?” Wang Chao complained.

Xie Zhuxing asked, “What did you want to say?”

“I was gonna tell them to go and ship us.”

“…”

Yang Xiaomu commented with a smile, “Leader, speaking of that, although you and Xiao Xie Ge’s ship isn’t popular, you and Ji Jie’s ship is pretty popular.”

Wang Chao didn’t realize that. He responded in disdain, “We have a ship? What’s it called?”

Ji Jie didn’t want him to say it. “Stop it. It’s embarrassing.”

Yang Xiaomu laughed. “It’s DumBun.”

Wang Chao didn’t think about it before he started laughing. “See, everyone agrees that he has a bun face.”

The others tried to hold back their laugh with their heads down.

Ji Jie informed him arrogantly, “What if I have a bun face? You dumbass.”

Wang Chao took a few seconds to understand the meaning. “…These fans are unreliable! They all need to be fired!”

After half a month of packed schedules, they finally got a day off.

Xie Zhuxing was going to rest at home; however, Wang Chao came over. He was being all mysterious as he said he had something nice for him.

Xie Zhuxing opened the door to see Wang Chao with a big shoe box in his arms, expressingly arrogantly, “Guess what’s in here.”

“…The Air Jordan 23?”

Wang Chao bought the pair of shoes he saw in the magazine last time – the exact same style of black and red.

“Hurry, try it on.” Wang Chao was all happy as he went on, “We should be around the same size. But I haven’t tried it on yet. Afterall, you should take the virginity of your own shoes.”

Xie Zhuxing. “…” Why is it that no matter what, it sounds wrong coming from his mouth?

He sat down on his couch, prepared to try the shoes on.

Wang Chao got down before him excitedly—he wanted to put it on for him.

Xie Zhuxing found it awkward, saying, “I can do it by myself.”

Wang Chao had already slipped a shoe on him. He pressed on the tip of the shoe to feel for any extra space. He stated ecstatically, “A perfect fit!”

Xie Zhuxing, “…”

This position made it seem like he was Cinderella who had finally gotten her glass shoe back.

The person in front of him was no prince though. Instead, he was the Peter Pan who lived in Neverland, forever a child. Smiling at him heartlessly, crying at him heartlessly, seducing him heartlessly –  all without realizing it.

sorry i didnt release a chapter last week. as you may have noticed, this chapter was hella long, it’s about 6.5k words in english foushegfiyowgfiyrf. as always, thank you for reading </33